Mariners and Joe Saunders blasted early

Five home runs allowed isn’t going to win you many ballgames, especially when your starting pitcher gives up three in just the second inning as Joe Saunders did tonight.

Saunders yielded long balls to Starling Marte, Russell Martin and a three-run shot by Brandon Inge in the second inning of this 9-4 defeat to the Pittsburgh Pirates. Marte later added a second homer — he also tripled — in the eighth inning off Carter Capps, while Gaby Sanchez hit another off Capps in the ninth.

So, not much to see here.

Saunders had looked pretty stellar his last five outings — giving up just five earned runs. But tonight, he was down 6-0 after notching only five outs.

The offense, as expected, didn’t do much from there, managing only four hits in seven innings off Jeff Locke, who improves to 7-1 with a 2.06 ERA.

Kyle Seager hit a solo home run, while Justin Smoak added a meaningless two-run blast to right field in the ninth. Well, not meaningless for him as he tries to find some power, but really, it didn’t add much to the final result.

They are back to 10 games under .500. Didn’t see Dustin Ackley tonight.